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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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* You can use the V800 as a simple activity monitor, something that's common to many new sports watches. However, when the V800 acts as an activity monitor it only has only an internal accelerometer, which provides poor accuracy. If you need an activity monitor, I'd recommend the [[Basis Activity Tracker]] which has sensors for heart rate, skin temperature and perspiration.
* The V800 includes a thermometer, which I rather like, though obviously the accuracy suffers because it's attached to your arm.
* You can use a Smartphone to upload your workouts to the Polar web site via Bluetooth.
=Polar V800 Cons=
* One of the big downsides to the V800 is its cost, which is far more expensive than the watches that I highly recommend. Given the V800's functionality, it's too expensive to be "highly recommended" at this price point.
** An Ant+ sensor will broadcast data to any device that's listening, so you could have two watches both receiving information. Bluetooth sensors are currently limited to sending data to a single paired listening device. So if you're wearing the Polar H7 Heart Rate Monitor, the data can go either to the V800 or to your iPhone, not both. (The V800 will rebroadcast the signals, but currently only the Polar App can receive them. Later revisions of the Bluetooth specification will allow for broadcasting of data.)
* The V800 will only upload the data to the Polar website. Polar has introduced to the export of TCX format data, but this export is incomplete (no laps). You can work around this by using the open source projects [https://github.com/pcolby/bipolar Bipolar] and [https://github.com/profanum429/v800_downloader V800_downloader], but this is a far cry from the open approach that Garmin has taken.
* The V800 uses some visual tricks to appear smaller than it is. If you look at the picture below, the watch body appears to be the silvered area, which is quite small. However, the first bit of the watch strap is really part of the watch body, with the strap starting much further out. The only problem is the watch body is inflexible, so on small wrists like mine it does not sit well, and I suspect it will dig into those with particularly large wrists. (I have no problem with watches that appear to be bigger, like the [[Garmin 310XT]].)<br/>[[File:V800 Size.jpg|none|thumb|300px]]
* A minor irritation with the otherwise excellent user interface is that the beeps and vibration are extremely weak and ineffectual.
* The polar website has some basic functionality, but it has the feel of an unfinished beta release rather than a complete solution. This feeling of being unfinished extends to the watch itself, but at least Polar are giving a timeline for new functionality.
* The V800 will predict your [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]], but unlike the Garmin devices that used [[Firstbeat]] technology and give a good result, the V800 is wildly wrong for me. Obviously this is a sample of one and Your Mileage May Vary.
* Another irritation is that the V800 will sometimes ask you a question when you press the start button, which is not the ideal time.
=What's Missing=
While I don't consider these missing features as 'cons', it's worth understanding the features that are missing compared with other watches.
* '''Navigation.''' The navigation capabilities are useful if there is a risk of getting lost. I've made good use of this feature when running in an unfamiliar city, or when running remote trails. There is a rudimentary "back to start" functionality that gives you an arrow pointing back, but that's a poor substitute.
* '''Downloadable Apps'''. Smart watches have got is used to the idea of a device that can be extended with new functionality, and this concept is being introduced to running watches.
* '''Graphs'''. Instead of simply displaying a numeric value for things like heart rate, some watches will display a graph of the value over time, giving you a sense of how things are progressing.
* '''Running Dynamics'''. Some of the newer Garmin watches can show and record Vertical Oscillation (VO) and Ground Contact Time (GCT).
* '''Alerts'''. Some watches will alert you when a metric is out of range. The alert for [[Cadence]] is really useful and one of my favorite features.
{{BuyAmazon|AZID=B00JSO9UD2|AZN=Polar V800}}
=Comparison Table=
{{:Best Running Watch-table}}
